Why is my flow running an infinite loop?

[calvares]

I've had a flow running on an infinite loop and I don't know why it would be.

It runs when a SharePoint item is modified.

There is one condition - then a send email followed by an update item.

Then there is condition 2- send an email followed by update item.

The update item is for fields which says send email = yes which would prevent the condition running again.

The thing is, it runs again even when the conditions have been false and with no apparent updates to the item. The flow run shows many of them as cancelled. The attached shows the version history for one item - the last actual update was at 10.06 but then it continued...

One of the conditionsversions in sharepoint

I have put an extra condition now to run subsequent conditions if modified by is not equal to the flow author, but old flows are continuing to run. Will they eventually stop with this new condition?

[Pstork1]

It's undoubtedly the Update Item action causing the issue.  Instead of adding a condition inside the flow you really need to fix this by adding a trigger query that checks the field you are changing to say it shouldn't be re-started.

for your second question.  Changing the definition of the existing flow will not affect any of the flow instances that are already running.  They will continue to run with the old definition.  However, when they finish and restart the restarted flow would run with the new logic.  So eventually it should settle.

[calvares]

Thank you for your quick and helpful reply @Pstork1.

I know you're right about Update Item being the issue but I just don't understand how it can cause it to run in loops if the action only ran the first time and not subsequently since the conditions weren't met. 

Could you tell me more about how to go about adding a trigger query please?

Thanks!

[Pstork1]

I would need to take a look at your whole flow to figure out why its re-triggering if the update doesn't happen in the condition.  But here's the best article at this point on Trigger Queries.  Let me know if you have more questions after going through the article

Power Automate Trigger Conditions made EASY - Power Platform Community (microsoft.com)

[hemrhk]

There are multiple ways to stop the infinite loop in Power Automate, Kindly read the below articles for a better idea,

Power Apps Form and Flag Column:

https://365stack.in/index.php/2021/12/12/how-to-stop-infinite-flow-trigger-in-power-automate-using-f... 

CSOM Update:

https://365stack.in/index.php/2021/12/31/how-to-stop-infinite-flow-trigger-in-power-automate-using-c... 

Multiple Lines of Text as Flag Column:

https://365stack.in/index.php/2021/12/30/how-to-stop-infinite-loop-using-in-power-automate-using-mul...